1. Field
The present invention relates to a technology for playing back a content in a content sharing service, or the like, for sharing a content such as a picture (static image) or a moving image among an own terminal and another terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with the recent development of communication network technologies, various services have been widely available that enable bidirectional communications with another person in a distant place. Among such various services, a so-called content sharing service allows an own terminal used by a user and another terminal used by another user in a distant place to communicate with each other while sharing various contents such as a static image (photograph), a moving image, a text material, and the like in real-time. As an example of such technology, Japanese. Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-114639 (hereinafter “Patent Document 1”) discloses a technology for sharing and synchronizing content information among a plurality of users. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-236462 (hereinafter “Patent Document 2”) discloses a technology for storing a display control operation history of video contents, and for allowing a plurality of users to communicate with one another in real-time by using the display control operation history. Moreover, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-040703 (hereinafter “Patent Document 3”) discloses a technology for displaying an expanded image of a predetermined region in each of terminals in accordance with an instruction operation of a user.
In a case where communications are performed between a plurality of terminals (information processing apparatuses), the controls of an image to be displayed on each of the terminals for sharing information, and among such controls, for example, the displaying of a characteristic portion within an image of interest in the communications requires various approaches.
Meanwhile, there are Patent Documents described below as related technologies existing prior to the present application.
Specifically, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1995-271505 (hereinafter “Patent Document 4”) discloses a display control apparatus capable of expanding and reducing a display screen in accordance of the pressing of an expanding button in a manual mode.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-160427 (hereinafter “Patent Document 5”) discloses content information containing a plurality of characteristic points (characteristic regions) and a technology for displaying a partial image in an expanded manner on the basis of these characteristic points.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-012307 (hereinafter “Patent Document 6”) discloses an imaging apparatus capable of recording, together with a captured image, coordinates of a position of an object which are calculated at the time of the capture.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-117680 (hereinafter “Patent Document 7”) discloses a technology for recording, in a captured image, a focus detecting point and focus detection data at the instance when the image is captured, and for enabling a user to, utilize the data.
In a case where a user uses a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone when utilizing a content sharing service, a user interface (man-machine interface) is limited. For this reason, an operability of operation of designating (instructing) a partial region for expansion out of a content such as an image of interest is concerned. In particular, this problem is significant in terms of a mobile terminal using physical operation keys provided on the terminal, unlike a so-called smart phone capable of recognizing touch and gesture performed by a user on a screen. Specifically, only an operation of an operation key to instruct expansion often causes a portion that is not intended by the user to be displayed in an expanded manner. In addition, for example in patent Document 4, when a user desires an expanded display, the user designates a desired portion by combining operations of predetermined operation keys for designating up, down, right, and left for designating the desired portion. However, designating the desired portion through the user interface described in Patent Document 4 requires for the user to repeat key operations while looking at a small display screen, and thus is troublesome. Furthermore, in the case of such user interface, an expanded image is often out of the range of the desired portion. For these reasons, the user gets confused in determining a positional relationship between the expanded image and the portion which the user desires to display in the expanded manner.
As described above, when a mobile terminal using physical operation keys provided on the terminal is utilized for the contents sharing service, its operability and convenience are problematic. In particular, in a case where a content such as a photograph is to be shared during communications, the user of the mobile terminal having the above-described user interface needs to stop the conversation for a long time, so that comfortable communications with the partner are disturbed.
In this regard, certain embodiments of the invention can provide a contents playback apparatus which allows a user to promptly designate a desired portion when displaying a part of a content in an expanded manner, and is thus excellent in operability.